


The Start of a Legend

by Dragoness31



Series: The Story of Commander Meghan Shepard [1]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Action & Romance, Awkward Flirting, Eventual Romance, F/M, Paragon Commander Shepard, Science Fiction, Spacer (Mass Effect), Vanguard (Mass Effect), War Hero (Mass Effect)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-22
Updated: 2017-08-27
Packaged: 2018-05-15 11:26:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5783608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragoness31/pseuds/Dragoness31
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is the story of Meghan Shepard. I've started things a little before the 1st game, one because of a really cool piece of fanart that inspired a scene I wanted to write and two because I also thought it would be interesting if somehow Kaidan and Shepard had met before they got onto the Normandy. The first chapter is that meeting and it's just before, but there are already sparks flying between them. I will be sticking pretty close to the story in the game, occasionally throwing in extra bits that I think should be in there, because there were times I thought more needed to be said or done. Meghan is a Spacer and the Hero of Elysium. She is also a Paragon Shepard, I use a couple of the renegade interrupts in the later games because they make sense. I am going to be a little slow getting this all written (the living situation and my work hours make it hard to find time to write), I will finish this, so please stick with me.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Time For Everything

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This takes place before the events in the first Mass Effect game. Commander Shepard is getting ready to start a new assignment with Captain David Anderson. She's at Arcturus Station and uses an Alliance terminal to check messages, get important Alliance updates and get the crew manifest for the SSV Normandy her new ship, when a tall dark-haired marine walks up to the terminal next to her distracting her.

A red-headed woman stood at one of the Alliance terminals on Arcturus Station. A tall dark-haired man took the one next to her. She caught him looking at her out of the corner of her eye. She was pretty sure he was trying to figure out why she looked so familiar. She knew he’d eventually figure it out.

 _Where’s the fun in that if I can help him recognize me…Wow, where did that come from,_ she thought.

She looked over at him as he returned his attention to his terminal and logged in. She gave him a quick once over.

 _He’s well built, obviously in shape; a marine I’d guess,_ she thought, squinting her eye as she guessed his service branch.

She gave him a second look; noticing his tech focused omni-tool and spotting what was likely an amp port on the back of his neck. _Biotic…damn, that makes him even hotter,_ she though as she rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to her terminal. _With that omni-tool he’s into tech too, which means he went the Sentinel route…never worked with one of them,_ she pondered, curious what it would be like to work with him… _no wait a Sentinel._

She refocused on the screen in front of her as she thought, _Whoa girl…you’re here to get the crew list, not ogle a marine…no matter how hot he might be…besides you don’t fraternize…ever._

She sighed and used her biometrics to activate the terminal.

“Welcome to the Alliance Military Database…Classified information requested.”

The screen prompted her to connect to the database and she tapped the screen.

“Establishing secure connection…secure connection confirmed…please login to access your file.”

She typed in her name and rolled her eyes at it; even though she’d used her biometrics on the terminal, the Alliance was still a bit old fashion and used the old school method of typing to access information.

“Preparing to send…” Then the connection was established and the data from her profile started to be sent. She cast a quick glance at the marine and caught him watching her with keen interest. She wasn’t sure what caused his interest; was it because of the looks so many people told her she had, was it because he saw the N7 on the screen as she was logging in, or was it because he’d finally recognized her. In thinking about it, she found she enjoyed his interest and didn’t care the source.

The voice in her head that tried to keep her following the rules pipped up, _You don’t fraternize with soldiers. You never know if you’ll see them again. Imagine how awkward it could get if you ended up working together. Let’s not forget the rules about that. You also have to worry about those soldiers that “have a girl in every port.” You’re an N7 now, you’ve done so much, don’t mess it up now with that type of complication._ She shook the voice away. She quickly glanced at him again and hoped he was not “that” type of soldier because there was something about him that made her want to break her rule.

She heard his terminal announce, “Welcome Lieutenant Alenko,” as it logged him in. She glanced over again and saw his full name on the screen: Alenko, Lt. Kaidan.

 _Kaidan…not a bad name,_ she thought as she tried to focus on her screen.

Her terminal then announced, “Welcome Commander Shepard.” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him staring at her, recognition on his face. She focused on her screen again and smirked on the side of her face he couldn’t see in profile.

She checked her private messages, occasionally casting glances at the Lt. He hadn’t moved and was still staring at her. She then started going through the latest Alliance notices and bulletins. There were the usual notices: one about major career milestones for Alliance personnel, her promotion to N7 was in these notices. There was also one about Alliance personnel being stationed on Eden Prime, but no details as to what for. The 212 was one of the units assigned there. _I went to basic with a guy in the 212…haven’t talked to him in years…maybe if we end up near Eden Prime I’ll message him._ There were other notices and bulletins that held no interest for her.

She glanced at the marine, Lt. Alenko, again to find he hadn’t moved and was still looking at her. She gave him her full attention and flashed him one of her smiles; she’d been told they were dangerous.

He visibly swallowed and shook his head slightly. “Sorry ma’am, don’t mean to stare, but you’re…you’re Commander Shepard,” he said as he reached up and rubbed the back of his neck.

His voice seemed to do something to her insides that she’d never felt before; there was a warmth and a fluttering both at the same time. _Damn, that voice of his is…I’ve never heard anything like it,_ she thought. To hide what his voice was doing to her she smiled again. “Last time I checked.”

“Sorry, I just…I heard all about what you did on Elysium and that you…you’re an N7 now, the only women I heard,” he sounded slightly awed.

“It was a bit brutal, but I’ve always been good at that kind of stuff, being a Vanguard and all,” she replied, then lifted her hand and purposely activated her biotics. Even with the space between them, she could feel his biotics respond to hers. She quickly turned hers off.

A look of surprise crossed his face as he felt his biotics respond to hers. “Wait, you’re a biotic? I’ve never heard that mentioned about you.”

“Yeah, like you. I went Vanguard and I’m guessing you went Sentinel?”

“Yeah, how did you know?”

“You have an omni-tool that favors tech and I thought I saw an amp port on your neck.”

“Yeah well, it was not by choice; mom was downwind of transport crash while she was carrying me and I was exposed to eezo.”

Shepard shook her head. “Damn, glad you and your mom are okay. My mom was exposed while she was pregnant with me on ship.” A silence hung as a mutual understanding passed between them. “The N training was no cakewalk.” She paused. “I think you’re right, there aren’t any other women, but I’ve never really been all that girly, besides with Captain Anderson being the first, I had to find a way to make getting it notable.”

In spite of himself, Kaidan laughed. Shepard really liked his laugh. _You came here to get the crew manifest, not to get distracted by a marine_ , the voice in her head tried to remind her.

“You certainly did that…you seem to do that a lot.”

“When it comes to work, I just try to do my job and survive whatever gets thrown at me.”

“I get the getting your job done thing, you seem good at it.”

She smirked back at him, but didn’t look directly in his eyes, she just watched him and thought she noticed a slight change in his expression, but she wasn’t sure. “Well you probably want to get back to what you were doing, you aren’t here to get distracted by me.”

“I don’t mind…I kind of wanted to meet you,” he said as he rubbed the back of his neck again.

She smiled again. “I hear that pretty often,” she said as she looked down. As she looked up again, she shifted her weight from one leg to the other. “Well I probably ought to get the crew manifest I came for and head back to finish packing.”

“New assignment?”

“Yeah, Captain Anderson is getting a new ship and he asked me to continue to be his XO.”

“I’ve got a new one too, shipping out tomorrow, gotta pack as well.”

“Good luck,” she said as she smiled, then turned back to her screen and starting typing.

“Yeah, you too,” he replied and turned back to his terminal.

She quickly finished up and transferred the crew manifest to her omni-tool so she could study it later. She logged out and started to turn to leave. She stopped and looked at him. “Before you leave, don’t forget to check the notices and bulletins, they can build up if you forget about them.”

When she started talking Kaidan looked at her, as he listened he smiled slightly. “You’re right about that, I’ve forgotten a few times and it took forever to go through them afterwards.” He looked up. Their eyes met and he felt a jolt pass through his whole body. He couldn’t recall ever seeing eyes so green. “Stay safe, Commander.”

When their eyes met Shepard felt a warmth spread through her and head straight to her groin. Then she noticed his eyes were a chocolate brown and very distracting. “I will, you too,” she replied and then slowly turned and walked away. As she walked away, she opened her omni-tool and pulled up the manifest, giving it a quick glance. Her eyes stopped on one name, Alenko, Lt. Kaidan.

That rule following voice in her head started up, _You need to forget about him, nothing can happen now that the two of you will be serving together…_

She ignored it as her face flushed slightly at the thought of seeing him again, of working with him. He could prove to be a bit of a distraction, something she’d never had to worry about before, but she couldn’t seem to make herself care.


	2. A Lesson About the Importance of Your Gear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard has headed back to her quarters after getting the crew roster and meeting Kaidan. She meets the two Alliance personnel taking her gear to the Normandy and has to explain to one of them why she doesn't want anyone touching her gear.

Shepard made her way back to her temporary quarters. She was mostly packed, especially since there wasn’t much to pack. Her backup armor and weapons were going to be taken to the Normandy by Alliance personnel. That made a part of her slightly uneasy; she didn’t know these people and she didn’t like people she didn’t know touching her gear. They were Alliance so she was going to have to trust them, but she was damn well going to check her gear before she used it.

All she had to do was bring her clothing and toiletries; all that fit in a bag. She’d learned to live with just a few possessions moving from assignment to assignment like she had for so long.

She made a final sweep through the bedroom, checking drawers and the closet as well as the bathroom. She grabbed her bag off the bed and walked to the main room, then headed to the door. She stopped, turned and dropped the bag at her feet. She sighed as she gave the room a critical once over. Except for the weapons locker and armor case on the floor, the room looked exactly like it had when she’d arrived. She nodded her head, satisfied, then reached down picked up the bag again and slung the strap over her shoulder.

With a sigh she turned towards the door, after a second or two it opened and she stepped through. She stopped and closed her eyes, listening to the sounds around her. She sighed _. Is this going to be my life; moving from room to room, never settling down, never having a place of my own_. She shook off the thoughts, she chose this; joining the Alliance was her decision, she knew what she was getting herself into having both parents in the Alliance and never having had a home.

She looked up when she heard the approaching footsteps. There were two Alliance soldiers, one of them had a Mass Effect field powered platform cart floating off the ground behind him. They were the ones coming for her gear. They stopped when they saw her and immediately saluted. Shepard tried to suppress an eye roll as she saluted back.

“At ease,” she ordered.

They stood more casually afterwards. “We’ve come to get your gear ma’am; we’ll transport it to the Normandy for you.”

She winced slightly at being called “ma’am”, but she gotten very good at making the flinch barely noticeable. “My weapons locker and armor case are in the main room,” she said, using her hand to indicate the door behind her. “Be careful with it… please,” she added as an afterthought. She then carefully considered her next words, “When you get them to the Normandy, please leave instructions that no one is to open them. I’ll take care of them myself once I get aboard.”

“Of course, ma’am,” the first one said.

“Don’t want anyone messing with your stuff, huh,” the second one said.

She furrowed her brow slightly and scowled. “That gear…,” she said, pointing back at the door. She brought her hand forward and gestured with it as she continued to talk, “…keeps me alive while I do my job; sometimes that job involves saving lives. If my weapons are not just so, with the mods I expect installed, it could get me killed. If my armor is not adjusted just right or maintained properly, I could get killed. If I get killed, the mission fails and missions failing are bad because other people could die, innocent people could die. Imagine if I’d failed on Elysium. **My gear** is a matter of life and death; not just my life. **No one** touches that gear but me, understood!” she said and then let her biotics flare slightly so a blue corona formed around her.

The second guy actually looked scared and took a step back. The first guy smirked and so did Shepard as she suppressed her biotics again.

“I think he understands now, ma’am. He’s a little green, usually uses the gear he’s given. I’m not sure he’s ever had gear of his own.”

Shepard glanced at the guys rank and realized that was true. “Getting good gear is a luxury not everyone gets; it’s important to take care of it. Advice given… now if you’ll excuse me, I should go.”

“Of course, ma’am,” the first guy said as he saluted her.

She saluted back. Second guy, still slightly scared and obviously slow on the uptake, saluted also. She adjusted the strap on her shoulder and walked past them.


	3. A New Assignment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard makes her way to the Normandy and sees her for the first time. She heads on board and is greeted by Captain Anderson. She's left with the impression that there is something about the mission she's not being told.
> 
> Meanwhile, Joker and Kaidan are on the bridge talking when Joker notices her and Kaidan gets his second look at her. He spends some time "looking" at her. Joker teases him, but he manages to come up with an excuse to head to the crew deck, hoping she's there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The artwork you see below was created by Mandy Alenko. This is her deviant art site: <https://mandyalenko.deviantart.com/>.  
> This art inspired the chapter below and I got permission from her to add it as long as she is credited. You should REALLY look at her renders, they are AWESOME!

She made her way to the docking bay where the Normandy was birthed. She stopped far enough back that she could look at the whole ship. She was a prototype, that the Turians helped work on. Some people were complaining about that, but it didn’t bother Shepard. She moved her eyes back and forth on the ship a couple of times, admiring her; she really was a beautiful ship, like nothing ever made before.

She took a deep breath and started forward again making her way to the hatch. As she approached, the docking tube door opened followed by the door to the decontamination chamber. She reached out and started the decontamination process.

“Standby shore party, decontamination in process,” the ship’s computer announced.

Once the process was over the main door opened and she stepped through to be greeted by Captain Anderson. She immediately saluted and he returned the salute.

“Welcome aboard, Commander. Do you have all your gear?” Anderson extended his hand to her. She took it and they shook hands, then she met his gaze.

“My weapons and backup armor are being brought aboard by some Alliance personnel I saw before making my way here. The rest of my things are in this bag.”

“A soldier’s life, you never own many personal things,” Anderson said with a hint of bitterness in his voice.

“True, Sir.”

“You are aware this is a shakedown run, correct?”

“Yes Sir, that is my understanding. Is that not the case any longer?”

He seemed to hesitate, then said, “No, this is still a shakedown run… Because the Turians helped build her, the Council has sent a Spectre to observe. His name is Nihlus Kyrik. He’s going to want to see all areas of the ship, so don’t be surprised if you see him often,” Anderson said, but Shepard noted something in his voice that made her wonder if there was more going on. Spectre’s don’t usually show up for shakedown runs of Alliance vessels even if Turians did help build them. If it was something she needed to know, she would be told.

“Understood, Sir. Anything else I should know?”

“Nothing that can’t wait till we get to Eden Prime.”

She nodded. He just confirmed her theory, but a good soldier didn’t ask questions, they did their job and followed orders.

“Someone by the sleeper pods can show you your locker. Are you familiar with the crew?”

“I retrieved the crew roster earlier and have looked it over. There are names I recognize, but many I don’t.”

“After you stow your gear, make your rounds and introduce yourself as best you can. Make sure to check in with Adams in Engineering and Dr. Chakwas as well. You probably ought to introduce yourself to Joker our pilot.”

“You mean the one who took the Normandy for a joyride,” she asked with a smirk.

Anderson narrowed his eyes at her comment, but was having to fight a smirk of his own. “Yes, that would be him. Dismissed, Commander.”

She nodded and headed to the crew deck.

 

As Shepard and Anderson talked, Joker and Kaidan stood on the bridge talking. Joker was facing the interior of the ship, Kaidan was facing the front windows. Joker suddenly stopped mid conversation and pointed.

“Hey look, I think that’s our XO… I think it’s Commander Shepard, the Commander Shepard,” Joker said, as he pointed.

Kaidan turned his head and looked; he knew what Shepard looked like as he’d met her earlier. It was her; somehow he’d known it would be as soon as Joker had made his comment.

“Yeah, that’s her,” Kaidan said as he fully turned around. He stood there, looking at her, trying to take everything in; her hair, it was red shoulder length hair that he found himself wanting to touch; her features, or at least what he could see of them from the side, were just what he remembered, he watched as she smirked and immediately remembered their conversation by the terminals; her figure, which he found his eyes lingering on the curves that her armor easily displayed…

“Hey Alenko, you’re staring,” Joker said, interrupting his scrutiny of Shepard.

“What?” Kaidan replied, trying not to sound annoyed.

“You’re staring.”

Kaidan glanced back to Joker. “No I’m not…well not exactly, it’s just not every day you see two of the most famous N7’s in the same place at the same time.”

“You got a point…but if one didn’t know better, one might think you were ogling the Commander.”

Kaidan watched as Shepard walked away, further into the ship. He really wanted to follow her but knew that would be a bad idea. He turned back around and looked at Joker. “Then whoever thought that would be wrong,” Kaidan stated.

“Did you know there is also a Turian Spectre on board…something feels off.”

“Joker, we’re here to do our job. If something changes we’ll be told when we need to know, that’s how it works.”

“Well that sucks… Do you think Shepard knows anything?”

Kaidan shook his head. “I have no idea and even if she does, she probably can’t tell us, so if I were you, I wouldn’t ask.”

“Wait, what? Come on… I haven’t heard anything about her being a hard ass, can’t hurt asking.”

“You’re going to do what you’re going to do. I kinda hope I’m around when it happens.”

Joker rolled his eyes. Kaidan sighed, then looked towards the interior of the ship; the way Shepard had gone.

“Planning to follow Shepard?” Joker asked with a smirk.

Kaidan looked at him and scowled. “No, I’m just trying to figure out how much longer I can put off going to the Medbay.” It wasn’t a total lie, Dr. Chakwas did want him checking in regularly.

“Why do you need to do that?” Joker asked

“L2 implant, there are a lot of complications with them… I’ve got it better than most; I just get headaches, but they're bad, so Dr. Chakwas wants me to check in frequently.”

“Shit, I didn’t know man… You better go then and not put it off, I’ve got to deal with her to because of my Vrolik syndrome.”

“I bet,” Kaidan stated. “I’ll be back before we have to depart,” he promised.

“Just can’t get enough of my sparkling personality,” Joker snarked.

“Yeah, that’s it,” Kaidan replied as he rolled his eyes. He then turned and made his way to the crew deck, while Joker headed back to his seat.


End file.
